Accurate Range Estimation System for Electrical Vehicles

Abstract

A range estimation system for battery-powered vehicles which has a means for manually entering desired destination information, a processor, and a display. The system is capable of retrieving state-of-charge information from the vehicle's battery, is configured to obtain available road and terrain information regarding potential paths from the vehicles current location to the desired destination, and is configured to use said road and terrain information to compare said state-of-charge information to said desired destination and provide information to the user about whether the battery has sufficient charge to power the vehicle to the desired destination.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for estimating the range available to a battery-powered vehicle, said system comprising:
 (a) a device for manually entering desired destination information;   (b) a processor configured to retrieve state-of-charge information from said vehicle's battery, configured to obtain available road and terrain information, and configured to use said road and terrain information to compare said state-of-charge information to said desired destination; and   (c) a display capable of showing the results of said comparison to the user.